Certain types of material, such as cellophane, are typically stored and transported in cylindrical rolls. Shipping and storing a plurality of such rolls presents certain disadvantages, however, in that the rolls have limited stability when stood on end and tend to roll if laid on their sides. In addition, when the rolls are of a material such as cellophane which is easily damaged, they require a high degree of protection during shipment.
One approach to solving the foregoing problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,732, in which elongated elements having spaced indentations therein are adapted for protectively supporting and spacing a plurality of rolls of cellophane material. The elongated elements are placed between the rolls and a pallet, between stacked layers of the rolls, and on top of the stack, and the stack is then strapped to the pallet. This solution to the problem is relatively effective in practice, but has not been satisfactory in all respects. In particular, it has not proved to be sufficiently cost effective, because individually molding each of the elongated elements is expensive and time consuming.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively fast and inexpensive method of producing elongated members of expandable polystyrene which are adapted for protectively supporting and spacing a plurality of rolls of material such as cellophane in a multi-layer stack.